Why I built Accolade

I've spent my entire career thus far (about 25 years—gasp!) in marketing, and watched the same pattern repeat: brilliant people do meaningful work and still get overlooked when it counts.

A senior engineer ships a critical system nobody outside their team knows about. A manager coaches three people through tough projects—zero documentation. A project manager unsticks decisions in every meeting—it never really shows up anywhere. Then review season hits, and they're scrambling to remember what they did.

The problem isn't their work. It's their record.

Most professionals rely on memory when it matters most: promotion committees, annual reviews, compensation conversations, job interviews. That's a game nobody can win.

I built Accolade in my 5-to-9 because proof should come before the conversation, not after.

It's a simple system: capture your wins in 20 seconds, attach the evidence, let AI turn it into a résumé bullet, self-review, promotion case, or interview story. Private. Always-current. Built to stay with you (not your employer) across jobs and decades.

The insight: Career management shouldn't start at review time. It's built, week by week, on proof that your work actually mattered.

This is a nights-and-weekends effort right now; definitely something out of my comfort zone, so I'm taking it slow. I'm starting with a small group of ambitious mid-career professionals—senior ICs, managers, and the quietly indispensable operators who refuse to be passed over. If that's you, sign up with us today and let me know what you think!